JAPAN: Mac Akasaka dances in the street, wearing a smile on his face and swinging maracas in the air, all in the hope of getting a seat in the next general election

Record ID: 464143

  • Title: JAPAN: Mac Akasaka dances in the street, wearing a smile on his face and swinging maracas in the air, all in the hope of getting a seat in the next general election
  • Date: 27th August 2009
  • Summary: MAC AKASAKA IN HIS CAR WITH MARACAS AND DANCING IN PUBLIC
  • Embargoed: 11th September 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Domestic Politics,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVAD5JSQMKBWA81B9JGFBG5RFVTG
  • Story Text: With a fixed smile on his face, a middle-aged Japanese man dances to blaring '80s dance tunes on top of a van in Tokyo's bustling Shibuya district.
    Many people look on quizzically.
    Some of the younger women giggle furiously as they take pictures with their mobile phone cameras.
    But for Mac Akasaka, the dancing is no joke.
    The 58-year-old former businessman is running in Sunday's (August 30) election in Japan's lower house without the backing of any major political party.
    "If I was just making speeches nobody would listen. But by doing my 'Smile Dance' people actually stop to listen and look up at me and so it works," Mac Akasaka, who's real name is Makoto Tonami, told Reuters.
    Resorting to wacky campaigns is not uncommon in Japan, where lesser-known candidates say a 50-year-old election law hampers efforts to get their messages across to the masses.
    The law prohibits candidates from using visual images that can reach a large, unspecified number of people, and has been interpreted to ban campaigning on TV and on the Internet.
    Akasaka has also grabbed voters' attention with his quirky "smile therapy" exercises, in which he massages the edges of his mouth higher with sweeping hands.
    He advocates "smile power" to revive the Japanese people's hearts and cure depression, and calls his one-man organization the "Smile Party."
    "It's also part of my election platform but this 'Smile Dance' is extremely effective combatting depression," Akasaka said.
    Many Japanese are pretty laid back about their eccentric candidates, some even say its proof of Japan's strong democratic principals.
    "I think it just goes to show what a great country Japan is that anyone can run in our elections," said Itsuma Kuro, a 33-year-old pharmaceutical employee and Tokyo resident said.
    That didn't mean of course that all were going to vote for him.
    "He's not really been very precise about his policies, so I don't really get him," said 42-year-old Hiroko Hyoto, who had stopped briefly to listen to him and pick up a pamphlet with his campaign pledges.
    Many however said it was a refreshing change from the usual speeches and pledges by the two top parties, currently battling for seats in the 480 seats-strong and most powerful of the two Japanese parliaments.
    "These elections are usually just about the Liberal Democratic Party versus the Democratic Party. But we'd rather listen to a more diverse set of opinions," said Masahiro Fubo, 26-year old, who stopped to listen and take a picture of the Smile Party candidate dancing in the streets of Tokyo.
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